Grief
by Rachel.Elizabeth.96
Summary: It's been 9 years since Kurt lost his brother. Yet he is reminded that there is no timetable for grief and when you lose family, there's always a place in your heart that can't be filled. In memory of Cory Monteith who passed away five years ago later this month. Warning: grief and mentions of cannon death


Blaine was setting his daughter down into her crib just as he heard the crash of breaking glass. He laid the sleeping girl down and brushed his fingers through her hair before walking out the door to see what had happened.

It had been a surprise earlier that week. It was a lazy Saturday morning. Blaine had gotten up and made breakfast. He had decided to make family breakfast every Saturday right after he and Kurt got married. When they first moved in together, Blaine had been making breakfast every day, and it had put so much pressure on their relationship. It had made Kurt feel bad because he knew Blaine didn't always have the time to do it, and Blaine didn't want to disappoint Kurt because he had made it a habit. They came with a compromise to do every Saturday so it would truly be special and neither of them would take it for granted, and once they welcomed their daughter, Audrey, it became even more special. Blaine made breakfast as Kurt got their daughter up and changed and then Kurt did the dishes while Blaine got some daddy-daughter bonding time.

Kurt was in the middle of the dishes when there was a knock on the front door. Kurt yelled, "Coming!" as he set the glass on the drying rack. He opened the door and he was shocked to see Cooper standing there.

"Hey, Little Bro," he said as he walked in. "I was in town and I was thinking about you guys. I mean my niece is nine months old and I haven't even met her yet!"

Cooper set his bag on the floor as Kurt said with a hint of annoyance, "Please don't call me 'Little Bro'."

Blaine came through the door holding Audrey. He was going to ask Kurt who had been at the door when his face lit up in surprise, "Cooper! What are you doing here?" The last time the brothers had seen each other was almost two years ago when Cooper had one night in New York between gigs.

"I came to see my brother's family!" he said reaching for the little girl.

She pulled herself closer to her daddy as Blaine explained, "She's a bit shy around strangers. It'll take a while for her to warm up to you."

At first, Cooper looked disappointed and then he smiled expectantly as he saw leftovers on the table. He gestured to ask if he could have some as Kurt sighed and said, "Help yourself." He had almost been done with the dishes but now he would have to wait longer to spend time with his husband and daughter.

Blaine handed the little girl to her Papa so he could sit at the table to talk to Cooper. He put his elbows on the table and leaned his chin on his clasped hands. "So…" Blaine began before trailing off. Cooper looked up and tried to smile the best he could with a mouth full of pancakes. Blaine continued with, "Why are you in New York?"

Cooper looked down at his plate, swallowed and replied, "I wanted to see my little brother and his family," as he shrugged.

The awkward silence was broken by little Audrey laughing at a funny face her Papa had made. Blaine smiled fondly at the beautiful noise. Cooper reached over and ruffled the girl's hair and she looked at him in dismay. Cooper smiled at the little girl and reassured her, "Don't worry, by the time I leave, I'm going to be your favorite uncle." Kurt's face fell as he hugged the baby a little closer and then handed her back to Blaine so he could finish the dishes. Cooper finished his meal without saying anything else as Blaine took his daughter back to the living room to play with her.

Cooper finished his last bite of pancake and walked the plate over to Kurt. "Hey, is there any way I can stay here?" he asked with a pleading look. Kurt couldn't help but notice that his puppy dog face was good but not nearly as heart-stopping as Blaine's.

"The only place we've got is the couch, but you're more than welcome to sleep on it, Cooper," Kurt responded.

"Thanks, Little Bro, for the breakfast and the couch," Cooper responded with a smile.

Kurt turned around to ask Cooper, again, to not call him "Little Bro", but he had already walked into the family room to be with his brother and niece.

So, Cooper spent most of the week with the little family. His niece finally warmed up to him and Cooper had dubbed himself her "favorite uncle" and basked in that title frequently. He did take good care of the little girl and let Kurt and Blaine enjoy some much needed, quality alone time.

It wasn't until dinner Thursday night that Cooper suddenly announced his departure. Kurt, Blaine, and Audrey sat at the table as Cooper grabbed his bag from the family room. He kissed the little girl on the head and hugged Kurt and Blaine. With that, Cooper Anderson was gone just as quickly and mysteriously as he had arrived.

Blaine wiped his mouth and got up from the table to begin clearing. "I'll do that," Kurt responded. "It's your turn to get Audrey ready for bed."

Blaine got his daughter out of the high chair and cleaned her up with a rag. He brought her over to Kurt and said, "Good night, Papa!" as he leaned the little girl in for a goodnight hug and kiss.

"Good night, baby girl," Kurt said as he kissed Audrey's cheek and nuzzled against her smooth baby skin for a moment.

Kurt turned to finish with the dishes as Blaine took Audrey to her room. He rocked her in the rocking chair as he sang _You are My Sunshine_ , the song he and Kurt had chosen to be hers after they brought her back from the hospital. Audrey was lulled to sleep quickly with her lullaby and the rhythmic rocking of the chair.

Blaine was setting his daughter down into her crib just as he heard the crash of breaking glass. He laid the sleeping girl down and brushed his fingers through her hair before walking out the door to see what had happened.

He turned the corner of the kitchen to see a glass shattered on the floor by the table. He walked further into the room to investigate and saw Kurt sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the cabinet. His feet were planted on the floor and his knees were bent so that he could put his elbows on them and put his face into the palms of his hand. Tears were cascading down his cheeks as he sobbed lightly. Blaine maneuvered past the glass and sat cross-legged next to Kurt with his back against the cabinet.

Normally, Kurt would have leaned into Blaine and let him hold him, but he didn't. And normally Blaine would have reached out to pull Kurt in, but he knew that wasn't what he needed. He just sat next to him and let him cry.

After about five minutes, Kurt was finally able to stop. Blaine finally spoke, "Kurt, you've been off this whole week. Please tell me what's wrong."

Kurt spoke quickly, "Cooper won't stop calling me 'Little Bro' no matter how many times I ask. And he kept calling himself Audrey's favorite uncle; at first, I tried to ignore it, but it got harder and harder to hear it every time he said it."

Blaine opened his arms and Kurt fell into them and he let his husband hold him as a few more tears fell. "I'll talk to him," Blaine reassured him.

"I know that Audrey is never going to meet Finn, but he is still her uncle. Hearing him claim that he's her favorite just reminds me that he never had the chance to be an uncle and that Audrey will never have the chance to be with him." Blaine nodded as Kurt continued. "Yes, Cooper's your brother and I love that he has accepted me with open arms, but Finn always called me Little Bro and I love Cooper, but Finn was my brother and that nickname was his way of showing me that he accepted every part of me as his brother even if it was just by marriage."

"I know, Kurt. You don't have to explain. I'll talk to him and say that it upsets you; he'll understand."

Blaine rubbed Kurt's back and after a few minutes, he finally pulled away. "I guess I should clean up that glass. I might have thrown it down in frustration." Kurt admitted his misdeed with a smile as he slid his hand over his cheeks.

Blaine hopped up and grabbed the broom and dustpan out of the cupboard. He held the dustpan as Kurt pushed the pieces of broken glass into it. Blaine cracked a smile and laughed silently at his thoughts. "What's so funny?" Kurt asked.

"Finn," Blaine responded. "He was mad at me… after that trip to New York where everyone broke up. He asked me why I did that to you and was looking out for you…" Blaine trailed off. "Anyway, even though he was mad at me, he was still so kind and helped me through a lot of stuff." Blaine's smile fell at some of the guilt. He knew that they had worked past that transgression long ago and they had grown so much, but he knew how much work it had taken for both of them to get past that.

"He forgave you," Kurt said jolting Blaine out of his guilt.

"What?" Blaine asked for clarification as he dumped the pieces of glass into the trashcan.

"He forgave you. He talked to me the morning after everyone hooked up at Will and Emma's failed wedding. We talked about a lot of stuff and we both admitted to hooking up with our exes. I'll never forget what he said… 'I love you Little Bro, and I know Blaine made a mistake and I'm not excusing it, but you need to work on making your way back. You've been angry for a long time, but you still love him. You need to figure out what led both of you to that point and start to come back. You're endgame like me and Rachel.' He's the one that really pushed me to start thinking about how I could be a better boyfriend and find a way for both of us to move forward. He wanted us to get back together; he forgave you." By now, Blaine had begun to let his tears fall too.

He wrapped Kurt up into a huge hug and squeezed himself as far into Kurt as he could get. "I love you so much," Blaine whispered into his husband's shoulder.

Kurt whispered, "I love you too," into Blaine's neck. His hot breath sent chills down his husband's spine as Kurt kissed his shoulder. They were in such a good place and he was so glad that Finn had reminded him that he and Blaine were endgame all those years ago.

 **This has been on my mind since the 5** **th** **anniversary of Cory Monteith's death is approaching this month. There's no timeline for grief and when you lose a family member, there's always a place for them in your heart.**


End file.
